I do not know whether it is necessary to give a long explanation in regard to this Bill. Its purpose is of a stereotyped nature. Practically speaking, it is to give statutory effect to the Resolution of Dáil Eireann in relation to expenditure on public services. The Seanad is aware that already under the Central Fund Act a certain sum of money, the amount of the Vote on Account, has been authorised to be issued out of the Central Fund to meet expenditure for approximately one-third of the current financial year. The Appropriation Bill gives authority for the issue of the remaining sum necessary for the service of the year out of the Central Fund. It also enacts that each Grant and Vote during the session shall be expended on the service to which it is thereby appropriated according to the terms described in the Resolution in Committee on Finance. It is usual also to bring within the scope of the Bill any Supplementary Estimate which has been passed and reported at the time of the Bill being drafted. In the present instance, one Supplementary Estimate, that for External Affairs, Vote 67, is included for 1935-36. The House may be interested to know what that was for. It was a Supplementary Estimate for the establishment of a Legation in Spain. Any further Supplementary Estimates will be covered by the next Appropriation or Central Fund Bill. I do not know whether any explanation of the various sections is necessary but, for the purposes of the record, it might be desirable if I briefly refer to them. Section 1 authorises the issue out of the Central Fund of £17,240,796 which, together with the sum of £10,172,000, authorised to be issued under the Central Fund Act, represents the amount of money required from the Central Fund to meet the cost of the supply services for the current year, including the Supplementary Estimate for £5,000 odd, to which I have already referred. In connection with this section and with the figures I have mentioned, I should say that the full amount of the Local Loans Estimate, part of which was included in the Vote on Account—£1,330,000—was withdrawn in view of the provisions of the recent Local Loans Fund Act. Accordingly, allowance has been made for that in arriving at the figure of £17,240,000 odd.
Section 2 gives the Minister for Finance the necessary power to borrow for the purpose of meeting the demands on the Exchequer. It authorises the Bank of Ireland to advance to the Minister for Finance any sums not exceeding the total of £17,240,000 odd mentioned in Section 1. In connection with the Central Fund Bill, a difference of opinion arose as to what exactly this specific authorisation implied and I have been at some pains to have it looked up. I find that the origin of the phrase used is, at the moment, lost in obscurity. The specific authorisation has appeared in the Saorstát Appropriation Acts and Central Fund Acts since the change of Government in 1922, when it was adapted from the British Acts. It has not been possible to ascertain definitely why the Bank of Ireland and the Bank of England were mentioned by name in the British Acts. The question was debated at some length on the Appropriation Bill of 1922 and, to a lesser extent, on the corresponding Bill of 1923. It was stated at that time that the reason for this authorisation in favour of the Bank of Ireland was that the powers of that bank as regards lending or advancing money to the Government were restricted by the Charter under which it was founded as a private banking company and that the enabling provision in the Bill was required to put the bank on the same footing, as regards the lending of money to the Government, as the other banks. It was then affirmed that there would be no point in mentioning the other banks since they, under the Acts governing public companies, could lend to the Government without statutory limit. I raised a doubt as to whether this explanation was sound and as to whether the Bank of Ireland, at the time, was, in fact, restricted by law in its lending powers. I have not been able to satisfy myself that, in fact, that was the origin of the authorisation. In any event, if it were the origin, the Bank of Ireland Act, 1929, which gave that bank all the powers as regards the lending of money enjoyed by other banking institutions in the Saorstát, would seem to have removed any restrictions imposed by the Bank's Charter. The history of the provision in the British and Free State Acts is not clear and I am having it further examined so as to be able to deal adequately with any questions in regard to this authorisation clause that may be sprung on me here or elsewhere. As we want to see what was the wisdom of our ancestors in regard to this question, if any Senator could give us any assistance, I should be only too glad to have it.
Section 3 specifically appropriates to the various services set out in the Schedule to the Bill—Schedule B—the total amounts granted for supply services since the passing of the Appropriation Act, 1934. The supplementary estimates for the year 1934-35, to the total of £2,170,047, are thus brought within the ambit of the appropriation. The second paragraph of this section gives the necessary authority for the utilisation of certain departmental receipts as appropriations in aid of the specific charges mentioned in the Schedule. This paragraph has been somewhat amended by mentioning at the end the aggregate amount of the sums authorised to be appropriated in aid. This brings the second paragraph of the section into line with the opening paragraph, where the aggregate amount of the grants out of the Central Fund are similarly mentioned.
Section 4 provides for the making of the usual statutory declaration before a person can receive payment in respect of superannuation or other non-effective service. This safeguard is considered necessary to prevent payment in respect of superannuation or other non-effective service being made to any person not entitled to receive such payment.